


Descent

by orphan_account



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-10
Updated: 2010-03-10
Packaged: 2017-10-07 20:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/69100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark and Lex follow each other down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Descent

**Author's Note:**

> Three ficlets merged into one.

_ **free falling** _

Lex ran with you and kept up.

You saw his feet and it looked like regular feet running, going through the reflexive motions of running, one knee raised and one leg straight. You saw the pads of his shoes wearing out almost immediately; you forgot to tell him to get heavy duty boots because they stood up to a lot of the kind of running that you always did. Lex's running shoes were rapidly fraying; in fact, the air bubble on his left shoe was already ground down, reduced to little shreds of transparence. He'd be running barefoot in a little while.  
You looked at his face and saw awe and happiness as he looked at the road ahead of him, his mouth curved and stretched wide into an unconscious grin. He met your eyes, and it was one of those perfect instants, where you communicated in languages you never knew you had mastered. He looked the same way, and you were pretty sure there was a grin as ridiculous as his on your face.

You were somewhere in the middle of Metropolis and Smallville, the flat, featureless expanse in the middle of the two that had wide open spaces. The smell of grass and cow shit surrounded you and you can't remember feeling this free, this good.

***

You went into class these days and people knew you were well-fucked. You felt grateful that you had no real close friends here at college. Chloe and Pete would have given you hell for showing up like this. People here could never figure you out though, because your grades were still really good.

"Good memory," you'd said when they asked. "That, and I live in a pretty quiet place. I study better there." Lex's apartment was pretty quiet except when they fucked.

It felt like everything was muffled and blunted, all except Lex and the blue in those eyes, the new power in his pale flesh. You never could protect yourself from that.

***

The sex was incredible. You let loose, all the fumbling you knew you did and the awkward thrusts and shimmies and the fingers that were too rough but weren't because you both could take it. It was funny at one point because Lex was just pounding into you so hard that his bed was digging into the wall. The posts surrounding the bed you knocked out seconds, minutes, hours ago, you don't really remember. Both of you had so much stamina. You smiled as you fucked Lex. He was saying "fuck, harder, fuck harder, I can take it now," and you did, with all the force and strength you'd been holding back all this time.

This was still a pretty new thing. The moon was bright against the black canopy sky, but when you started the sun was in the middle of setting.

Thank God Lex owned the building. The bedroom was a mess. You were too, because Lex was strong enough now to leave marks on your skin. You didn't like looking at the marks you left on his. It reminded you of Smallville, of the people who went nuts that you had to save Lex from once too often.

***

You loved Metropolis. You realized it as soon as you saw how anonymous you were here. Nobody cared, and there were too many weird and big things happening that the things you did barely even registered on the city's collective consciousness. Your mom had seen the love you had for the city on your face during your last visit home and you shared stories with her, of the spots that she hadn't seen in a while and the things you saw now. Your dad usually sat by with a sad smile on his face.

Your mom told you of Caroline's Bookstore. She had smiled when she said that, said the place was pretty "progressive."

That changed things. You never visited as frequently after that, and it wasn't as if you couldn't run there. Or fly. There were secrets that shouldn't be spoken, even from people who knew everything else.

***

Lex had wanted you to take a science course but you didn't want to. You liked journalism better, the way you could make words leap, the way it made people care, right down to the way newspaper ink smelled.

Science was Lex's forte. You knew enough and you were smart enough to get the scientific principles that he mentioned. Even if you never knew the finer applications of DNA grafting like Lex did, you got the drift.

***

Sometimes, your arm froze and became limp. It gave out on you once in the library. You were helping the librarian out when it happened. Everyone looked as all the books you held fell noisily on the hardwood floor.

  
_ **falling free** _

There was still disbelief in Clark's eyes when you ran as fast he did.

You kept your eyes on the horizon and a part of you thought that you might be able to reach it now, chase it like people sought the end of the rainbow ages ago. You watched Clark, and you're not sure what he can't quite bring himself to believe. More important than the disbelief though was that Clark looked happy, as if this just solidified the sense of distance both of you always felt with the rest of the world. Only Clark tried to keep bridging it, and you've long ago burned them all down.

You watched him run, the ease in those long limbs that have attained a state of grace you know you won't ever match. Clark finally felt comfortable in his own flesh, but only because you were now just finding out the new limits of your own. He explained to you earlier the mechanics of his running, what routes he used to love when both of you still lived in Smallville. In many ways, the situation has been reversed. He knew a lot more than you did, and maybe he always did, but considering what you have now, there's only a little twinge of resentment in you about that.

You made sure you both stayed in this huge flat expanse that you own now in between Metropolis and Smallville. You felt like a child and you didn't give a damn. It was the fairest of the seasons.

***

The sex was astonishing. You let go of the control you used to demand and let him lose his. He was, as always, endearingly awkward. You guided him through the steps and the subtleties of making someone melt with your hands, your tongue.

He learned quickly. When he did, he learned to surrender control too, and part of you felt so bizarrely proud of him for that, that he picked up on that without you ever saying a word. Sex used to be pleasure as it was about power. You've learned otherwise through Clark's own unique and non-verbal way of teaching, to let go of your illusions about having the upper hand and you let yourself go. There have been times you went to bed with someone and you had battle plans in your head. Not now though.

You left marks on his skin. It was the only way you still held on to some of your old beliefs, like times in the past you've caught yourself about to say grace before you ate, just like your mother and Pamela taught you. You marked him now because it satisfied the urge in you to brand everything that's yours, and you don't ever see that changing.

***

Metropolis was still your home. You loved how famous, or infamous, you were here. Everyone knew to stay out of the way, knew better than to say one single word about you or Clark to your face. You've taken the slings, but Clark hasn't and you made a vow long ago that he would never be exposed to all of the venom people aimed towards you.

Your father was here though. No longer blind but still with a decided limp, his expensive cane that cleared a path before him, he still commanded respect. He treated his cane like a sword; both to cut and to bless those he thought deserved some sort of reward.

You remembered arching a brow at him once, asking him why he seemingly knighted some of his lackeys. He had seethed. Ah, you had thought, something to keep track of.

The next morning had brought about a blatant blind item about "an heir" and "a student" in all the rags and perfectly chosen words that said debauchery without ever saying it.

***

Sometimes, you went into work with a smile that scared people. You couldn't help it. You were happy, almost to the point of distraction. Your rivals thought you actually were distracted and took advantage. You always proved them wrong.

You felt like laughing at them, sometimes at the world in general. Everything became more vibrant, more intense. You focused so sharply on everything now that all the details came into focus.

Clark was at the center of it, as always. He was alive and vital, even more so now, and you never could protect yourself from that.

***

You wanted Clark to understand the principles of DNA grafting better, but he really wasn't interested in finding out all the details. He loved his own work more, and you couldn't fault him for that. He didn't love science like you did.

The scalpel you used was in a safe in Cadmus in a lead-lined box. You imagined it glowing inside.

***

Sometimes, you didn't know your own strength. You didn't mean to hit that woman once. It was a crowded street and you were impatient and you jerked your elbows out to have some space. Everyone looked as she hit the wall of the building, as she slid down to her knees unconscious with a smear of red trailing her on the slate gray wall.

  
_ **fell** _

The Metropolis skyline seen from above made you feel like a child, like those rare nights when you were young and your parents took you to the big city. Your eyes couldn't look at enough because there was just so much. You found a whole new appreciation for the city though when you looked at it from this perspective, higher than Luthor Plaza, so high that even if people saw the figures of two men floating in the air they would doubt their sanity.

The smile on your lips felt like they stretched and would stay for eternity. You sliced through the air and mimicked the skydivers you saw on TV. You tucked your arms closely to your side and let yourself drop. You laughed like you don't remember ever laughing, as if you needed to make up for lost time. Your cheeks puffed up with air and you were sure that your face was inflated into some weird happy grimace, but Lex didn't seem to mind. He zoomed ahead of you, playfully blocking your fall, a full out grin on his face. There were some things in this world that were beyond smirks, and you were glad that Lex could smile like that, pure joy etched on his face.

You tackled him playfully. He let out an `oomph' but he was laughing, loud and clear as a song. You arced up into the air with his waist in your arms and you flew as fast as you ever have, raced in the night sky full of stars, through the wispy white clouds.

He shoved you away after a few minutes. "I don't want to overdo it," he said. "I was afraid of heights not too long ago."

"You're flying, Lex. I'd say you have that fear conquered."

He looked down for a quick second and looked back at you. "I still don't like looking down." A thread of shame in his voice; it cost him dearly to admit such things, but you've bargained with him. He was halfway there, you'd like to think with your help. Halfway to the point where it wouldn't hurt so much to expose vulnerability.

"Thank you," he said. He drifted towards you slowly and grabbed your chin gently to tip it up. He kissed you slowly and tenderly, his tongue licking your lips with slow, delicate strokes. You kissed him back, and you kissed him with all the things he has taught you to do. He smiled into the kiss. You loved this, that your faces could be at the same level when you kissed in midair.

All of a sudden, he stopped, a blank look on his face. "Clark," he said. You were still in a kiss stupor.

He plummeted.

You sighed in exasperation. Lex and his games. You flew down to follow him. He yelled your name as you shook your head.

***

You noticed the pucker of flesh on his chest. You were on your way down when you saw it, an odd purplish hardness. He grunted when you pressed it with your fingers; he wanted your ability to make him forget more. He pushed your head down and threaded his fingers through your hair.

You made him forget. You slept peacefully, his breathing a calming melody.

***

You woke up with the feeling that something was missing. You looked out to see that it was still dark.

From room to room you ran quickly until you stumbled onto him in the living room. Lex had the gleam of desperation.

"Clark." Your name never had so much meaning. You ran to him and crouched on the floor, where he sat with his head in his hands.

"What is it?" The list of horrors went through your head. Mom, Dad, Chloe, Lana, Pete, Lionel did something again...

"It hurts."

The flight to the hospital was quick and careless. Lex hated hospitals but you didn't have much choice; you were completely out of your depth. You landed in a selected dark corner and then ran into the emergency room. Lex lost consciousness along the way and the panic you felt was sickening, dizzying.  
"His chest hurts, he lost consciousness, help him, help him." The nurses took him from you before you realized your mistake. In your careless rush, you brought him to a hospital.

You were about to do something stupid when you saw the needle go in his arm. It didn't break.

***

Over and over you ran it through your head. Lex used plants as an example, how breeders of certain plants and trees get a sliver of branch and graft it to a weaker plant, and how in time the weaker plant would improve.

You touched your arm in memory. The room both of you had been in you didn't really remember. Meteor rock was necessary for Lex's scalpel to work. Everything else was a nauseating whirl of pain and blood you rarely saw that seeped from your flesh as you laid on the metallic bed and trusted that Lex knew what he was doing.

***

"We couldn't detect anything." Anonymous doctor.

"We put him on painkillers." What a nurse said earlier.

"I want him home," you said.

"I'm fine," Lex said, clearly not.

"Mr. Luthor, please! Mr. Kent, say something." Same nurse. Time wasn't something that existed for you in any understandable way.

"I'm fine," Lex said, clearly so.

"Come back for testing." The doctor was clearly surprised.

"Let me see him," you said.

"Come on, Clark." Lex walked out of the hospital.

"Is there anything...strange you noticed about him," you asked.

Lex grabbed your hand outside the hospital. He ran to where it was dark. You heard him take a breath. He jumped and stayed in the air, his smile shaky.

You woke up. It was 12:00 noon and things made dream-sense. Lex made orange juice and waited for you to grab the sports section. His robe slipped open and you saw the odd bump, and everything righted itself in your memory, the things you couldn't deny.

***

He fucked you now. Hard and ruthless, brutal and desperate, with every ounce of strength he could muster, with every ounce of strength that wasn't the same as it was days before.

Sometimes, you forgot how things fall, how rarely things fall into place. Lex had tried to fly again from the roof of Luthor Plaza but fell instead. You didn't remember that things were different and grabbed his arm to catch him. You soothed him with a kiss as you rushed him to the hospital, even as you tried to forget the sickening sound of his arm breaking.

THE END


End file.
